Music Industry Marketing

1. Summarising in your own words what the 4Ps of music marketing are. Use the following categories:
a) What band/artist related products can audiences buy?

Apart from being able to buy the actual track or album from a shop or online, there are other products related to bands or artists that can be bought. For instance, Lady Gaga designed high end headphones and Lily Allen was promoting straightners as these fit with her image of having straight hair. There is also synergy between the music industry and the gaming industry as some tracks are promoted when used in games. Various merchandise related to Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and The Ting Tings can be bought from their websites (as can be seen in detail in my answer for question c).

b) Where can audiences buy/listen to music/merchandise/hardware?

Due to the internet and other modern developments in technology, music has become far more accessible at the click of your mouse. Music can now not only be bought from shops as a tangible product through buying a CD, it can also be bought on websites such as iTunes or record label websites. Merchandise can be bought on the official websites of bands/artists usually through a link on the homepage which takes fans to the correct page to do so.

c) Give 2 or 3 examples of paid-for/subscription based and free products.

1) On the official website for The Ting Tings, fans can buy T-shirts with images on them that are related to the bands image such as from their album covers.

2) On the Katy Perry website fans can buy various articles of clothing with her name, face or the lyrics on them.

3) Lady Gaga is selling back to school merchandise on her website.

d) List between 5 and 10 examples of creative music marketing strategies (including at least 3 internet based examples).

1) Jamie Cullum used a very creative marketing strategy online where gifts were hidden in a Christmas ‘Advent Cullumder’ that could be won by fans. Fans were invited to visit the site everyday to be in with a chance of winning a prize.

2) Topman CTRL - Topman allowed a band to control the music they played for a month showing synergy between the music industry and the fashion industry. The band program a gig and give fans complete access to their blog.

The site also offers buyers the chance to download free music.

3) The band Dolly Rockers teamed up with Kangaroo footwear and offered a competition online asking fans to create a dance routine to their track which could be done through access to bebo.com to film it. The band would then choose their favourite as the winner.

4) Mika is launching a loyalty scheme via his website where fans can earn points for that can then be traded for rewards. Points are rewarded for creating a profile, adding comments, uploading content and buying products. The points ca nthen be used to free music, video downloads, screen-savers and even a private acoustic gig from Mika.

5) Recent promotion of the Eminem album involved augmented reality combined with user-generated content (UGC) which basically creates a virtual 3D object that users interact with. Fans could design their own ‘E’ with a 3D image on their webcam that changed as they changed it on screen. This created the image that there actually was an E sitting on their desk. The best design was awarded a trip to Detroit to participate in the album’s launch event.

6) On Lady Gaga's website, fans are offered the chance to create Lady Gaga-inspired outifit on Polyvore and Lady Gaga picks the winning design. The competition is hosted by Polyvore.com so there is a link to it on her website.

2. Who is frukt uk and what is their mission statement/company ethos?

Frukt UK is a specialist music marketing agency. They develop and activate ideas that use music as a means of marketing.

‘We help brands access the passion and the communities, the lifestyle and the artists.’